2011 Recruiting Profile: Hikeem Stewart

By Craig Yamada – Editor-In-Chief

• Height: 6’3”
• Position: SG
• Class: 2011
• Scout Ranking: #35 SG
• Location: Seattle, WA
• AAU Team(s): Friends of Hoop
• High School Team: Rainier Beach
• Interested Schools: Colorado, UNLV, Kansas, Oregon State, Oregon, Gonzaga, UCLA, Santa Clara, Seattle, Washington State, and UW

Yes, Seattle, it is yet another Stewart. And yes, this is yet another twin. And YES, this is the younger twin brother of older twin brothers Loderick and Roderick. Hikeem Stewart of Rainier Beach High School has been the talk of the town as of late with his recent tournament performances.

He is gaining momentum in his recruiting following a strong showing during his AAU summer tourneys. Playing in the backcourt with before mentioned Brett Kingma (recent UW offer), on the FOH squad, he helped lead his team to the Final Four in the Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament. The Oakland Soldiers won this tourney. (More to come on them soon.)

From the few highlights I have seen on Hikeem Stewart, he’s a 2 guard  with great ball handling skills that sees the floor very well. Hikeem says he models his game after Brandon Roy. His court vision has allowed him to showcase some flashy passes to his teammates in the half court set as well in transition, much like Tony Wroten. He has the athletic ability to create his own shot and beat his man off the dribble.  He has been noted to have decent range as he pulls up for jumpers. His three point range is another area where Hikeem has excelled as he can stick it from anywhere beyond the arc off the bounce.  Sounds like yet another athletic guard that would fit well within the Romar system. The only area I haven’t heard much about is his defensive prowess. He has been said to be able guard the 2 or 3 spot with ease, but haven’t seen enough film of him to back that up.  Given Rainier Beach’s stellar guard classes of the last 8 years dating back to Nate Robinson and the Stewart Twins, I would expect nothing less than a lock down defender.

Off the court, he is an honor student and a smart one at that. Sounds like this kid has a good head on his shoulders. Definitely a Romar kind of player.

How does UW sit in his recruitment?

Hikeem recently did an interview for Rivals where he said he had no clear cut leader thus far. He has doubled his official offers following his showing in Las Vegas. He now has offers from Colorado, UCLA, ASU, Oregon St, Santa Clara, UNLV, WSU, and UW. He is going through the motions of his official visits and is already planning on visiting Colorado, UCLA, Oregon St, and UW. Kansas has been hot on his trail lately and could be his fifth visit if they continue the press on Stewart. Kansas, get used to the name. UW will be battling Bill Self on many of our top recruits: Stewart, Jabari Brown, Kyle Wiltjer and Angelo Chol.

However Stewart did go on to say that “UW is in his hometown so that kind of puts them above everybody.” My guess is that he is UW’s to lose.

Who has UW officially offered?

We all know that Romar has four spots open. He may even take 5 with the assumption that IT will take his chances in the 2011 Draft or another transfer at year’s end.  Let’s look how we currently stand.

We have 9 official offers out according to Rivals and Scout:

• Tony Wroten
• Jahii Carson
• Jabari Brown
• Angelo Chol
• Kyle Wiltjer
• Norvel Pelle
• Kevin Davis
• Hikeem Stewart
• Brent Kingma 

Montlake Madness’ Best Guess

PF positions will likely hold priority with the loss of MBA this year. Two out of the trio of Chol/Pelle/Davis will likely occupy two schollies if Davis gets academically eligible and either Chol/Pelle chooses UW in the spring. The third will be a PG to replace Venoy Overton. That race is between Jahii Carson/Tony Wroten (most likely Tony Wroten). The fourth and fifth spot will be given to two out of these four:  Jabari Brown, Kyle Wiltjer, Hikeem Stewart, and Brett Kingma. From everything I have read, Jabari is obviously a top priority but have heard he is slightly leaning toward Kansas, but UW still has a good shot. Hikeem sounds like a more likely candidate to land given his proximity to home and his relationship with Romar. I hear that Kyle Wiltjer has been getting recruited more heavily by UW coaches as of late, but will be tough to land given all the bigger name schools that are after him (Texas, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Kansas and almost the entire Pac -10). Brett Kingma is still fielding offers but ultimately sounds like UW’s to lose as well.

If you stuck a gun to my head today, I would say this will be our 2011 incoming class:

1. Tony Wroten
2. Hikeem Stewart
3. Angelo Chol
4. Kevin Davis
5. Brett Kingma

By no means is this my final answer. All for now.